Page 164 of The Well of Ascension

Elend looked troubled.

Cett laughed. “Honestly, you didn’t think I’d recognize one of the Survivor’s own crewmembers? You Luthadel noblemen must assume that everyone outside the city is a damn fool!”

“And yet, you listened to Breeze,” Elend said. “You let him join you, listened to his advice. And then, you only chased him away when you found him being intimate with your daughter—the one you claim to have no affection for.”

“Isthatwhy he told you he left the camp?” Cett asked, laughing. “Because I caught him with Allrianne? Goodness, what do I care if the girl seduced him?”

“You thinksheseducedhim?” Vin asked.

“Of course,” Cett said. “Honestly, I only spent a few weeks with him, and evenIknow how useless he is with women.”

Elend was taking all this in stride. He watched Cett with narrow, discerning eyes. “So whydidyou chase him away?”

Cett leaned back. “I tried to turn him. He refused. I figured killing him would be preferable to letting him return to you. But, he’s remarkably agile for a man his size.”

If Cett really is Mistborn, there’s no way Breeze got away without Cett letting him,Vin thought.

“So you see, Venture,” Cett said. “I know you. I know you better, perhaps, than you know yourself—for I know what your friends think of you. It takes a pretty extraordinary man to earn the loyalty of a weasel like Breeze.”

“So you think I won’t harm your daughter,” Elend said.

“Iknowyou won’t,” Cett said. “You’re honest—I happen to like that about you. Unfortunately, honesty is very easy to exploit—I knew, for instance, that you’d admit Breeze was Soothing that crowd.” Cett shook his head. “Honest men weren’t meant to be kings, lad. It’s a damn shame, but it’s true. That’s why I have to take the throne from you.”

Elend was silent for a moment. Finally, he looked to Vin. She took his plate, sniffing it with an Allomancer’s senses.

Cett laughed. “Think I’d poison you?”

“No, actually,” Elend said as Vin set the plate down. She wasn’t as good as some, but she’d learned the obvious scents.

“You wouldn’t use poison,” Elend said. “That isn’t your way. You seem to be a rather honest man yourself.”

“I’m just blunt,” Cett said. “There’s a difference.”

“I haven’t heard you tell a lie yet.”

“That’s because you don’t know me well enough to discern the lies,” Cett said. He held up several grease-stained fingers. “I’ve already told you three lies tonight, lad. Good luck guessing which ones they were.”

Elend paused, studying Cett. “You’re playing with me.”

“Of course I am!” Cett said. “Don’t you see, boy? This is why you shouldn’t be king. Leave the job to men who understand their own corruption; don’t let it destroy you.”

“Why do you care?” Elend asked.

“Because I’d rather not kill you,” Cett said.

“Then don’t.”

Cett shook his head. “That isn’t how all this works, lad. If there is an opportunity to stabilize your power, or to get more power, you’d damn well better take it. And I will.”

The table fell silent again. Cett eyed Vin. “No comments from the Mistborn?”

“You swear a lot,” Vin said. “You’re not supposed to do that in front of ladies.”

Cett laughed. “That’s the funny thing about Luthadel, lass. They’re all so concerned about doing what is ‘proper’ when people can see them—but, at the same time, they find nothing wrong with going and raping a couple skaa women when the party is through. At leastIswear to your face.”

Elend still hadn’t touched his food. “What will happen if you win the vote for the throne?”

Cett shrugged. “Honest answer?”

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